81296917-Creating a Green Business Development Ecosystem in Uzbekistan

Description

"Green private sector development and economic policy advice in Uzbekistan" The economic reforms implemented in Uzbekistan since the end of 2016 show a number of successes. Nevertheless, economic development lags far behind the country's own expectations of comprehensive and sustainable industrialisation. The share of the manufacturing sector in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is steadily declining, from 21.3 % (2015) to 19.7 % (2019). Although the manufacturing sector could generate large employment effects, the share of employment in manufacturing has fallen steadily over the past 15 years to 9 % and remains at this level. The Uzbek economy is thus unable to provide sufficiently good employment opportunities for the rapidly growing population. Women make up 44 % of the industrial workforce, but are mostly employed in low-wage sectors such as textile production. The government of Uzbekistan tries to promote industrial development with various initiatives such as industrial clusters, parks and zones. The Green Economy Strategy 2030 and the Industrial Development Strategy 2030 are core areas of the National Development Strategy 2022-2026, which places great emphasis on the industry as a driver of economic development and the introduction of green technologies to improve energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Uzbekistan lacks strategic orientation and targeted promotion of industrial enterprises. The reason for this is the insufficient personnel and operational capacities of relevant public sector actors for industrial policy. There is a lack of capacity of vocational education and training institutions to provide necessary skilled labour as well as a lack of demand-driven Business Development Services (BDS) to increase the competitiveness and value addition of the industrial sector that could make a significant contribution to economic development. The project "Green private sector development and economic policy advice in Uzbekistan" (hereinafter the Project) is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The Project supports Uzbekistan in its efforts to promote green industrialisation and to thereby introduce energy- and resource-efficient production processes and create the conditions for a long-term decoupling of economic development and the use of natural resources. The Project consists of four interconnected outputs: Output 1 aims to strengthen the human and operational capacities of relevant public sector actors for industrial policy. Under this Output, the Project cooperates closely with relevant ministries and other state bodies. Output 2 aims to reinforce the private sector's technical capacities to implement more sustainable production in the industrial sector. Also, the Project plans to develop pilot concepts for the transformation of two industrial zones into Eco-Industrial Parks. Output 3 aims to promote demand-oriented Business Development Services to increase the competitiveness of companies in selected "future-oriented manufacturing sectors". The Output foresees piloting four support schemes to boost competitiveness and promote cooperation between industrial companies, research institutions, and universities. While the Project is open to working with companies of every size under this output, it is interested in particularly promoting Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). Output 4 aims to increase cooperation between European and Uzbek companies in the field of green industrialisation and to strengthen future-oriented sectors, which is expected to increase investments in these fields. The cooperation projects between European and Uzbek companies are initiated through the developPPP Service Centre. The Project is commissioned for three years (12/2022 - 12/2025) with a total budget of EUR 9 million. Lot 1: Description of services to be provided Subject: Creating a Green Business Development Ecosystem in Uzbekistan. The assignment"s goal is to build the capacities of the Business Development Service (BDS) providers and the ecosystem around them and deliver Green BDS to Uzbek industrial enterprises. Additionally, the contractor is expected to directly support companies in optimizing their production practices and reduce the CO2 intensity of their operations. The term "Green BDS" has been coined in order to distinguish different forms of BDS. Generic BDS covers such services as business planning, export support, technology transfer and innovation support. Green BDS concerns business services which focus on the concept of cleaner production or the environmental sustainability / green economy in a broader sense (e.g. resource / energy / water / wastewater / solid / hazardous waste efficiency, renewable energy, clean technology, sustainable production, climate change adaptation and mitigation, pollution reduction, recycling, natural resource management, low carbon/resource efficient economy, carbon trade, international environmental standards, etc.). The Contractor will concentrate on Green BDSs with a focus on reducing CO2 emissions. The target group are Small and Medium Enterprises in selected industrial sectors. There is an ongoing study that will allow to select specific industrial sectors on which the project will focus its activities. The contractor is responsible for providing the following work packages: Work package 1: Inception phase (identification of needs, prepare implementation) The purpose of the inception phase is to analyse the demand and supply of green business development services and to develop an implementation strategy. Work package 2: Strengthening the Green BDS Ecosystem This work package will involve several actions designed to strengthen the Green BDS Ecosystem in Uzbekistan via capacity building: - Develop 4 Green Business Development Services: Prepare concepts for 4 Green BDS including the content and capacity building programmes (incl. training material, methodology) based on the implementation strategy. The selection should prioritise topics based on the demand from the selected stakeholders and ensure collaboration with other GIZ activities. - Select at least 4 pilot local service providers based on transparent selection criteria, e.g., access and market experience within Uzbekistan"s industry, as well as gender balance. Additionally, 2 meso-level players (business chambers, associations, NGOs) have to be involved. The role of meso-level players is to raise awareness and scale up Green BDS beyond the 4 pilot service providers in the future (see WP 4). In order to narrow the gap between green economic policy and its" implementation, the contractor should invite to the trainings key relevant staff members of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan. - Enable meso-level players and local service providers to implement Green BDS using a ToT approach, including the organisation of training, the logistics, handouts, evaluations, certificates, international/regional/national trainers, hybrid format (online and possibly offline if required). The timeline must be customised to the needs and priorities of Green BDS providers. Follow-up trainings and adjustments must be considered. - Reporting to GIZ: Concept notes for each Green BDS, documentation of trainings and Monitoring and Evaluation reports of ToT and BDS. Work package 3: Facilitation of roll-out of Green BDS by meso-level players and local service providers in at least 50 Uzbek industrial companies The goal of this work package is to facilitate the roll-out of BDS in at least 50 industrial companies via the previously selected and trained meso-level players and service providers (see WP 2) and based on the roll-out strategy developed in WP 1. This is the crucial part of the assignment for the achievement of the Module and Output Indicators. The improvements in the respective area should be documented (quantitatively) by the service providers and verified by the contractor. The contractor and its experts will directly deliver Green BDS to 25 participating companies, while local service providers will observe and support the contractor. The local service providers will be in charge of delivering Green BDS to the remaining 25 out of 50 participating companies. The contractor will provide coaching and advise local service providers on improving their services. Work package 4: Green awareness raising and knowledge management Two meso-level actors (chambers / associations / NGOs, etc.) will be selected as the Project"s partners for the awareness raising (such as leaflets, videos, social media, etc. on Green / BDS issues), potentially advocacy and scaling up activities of the Project. Awareness-raising activities shall be in Uzbek, Russian and English languages. A Network of Green BDS Providers will be supported highlighting the Project"s materials, relevant activities, business cases, and sources of information. The Green Network would include relevant source materials, calendar of Green events, and would be established with a relevant business chamber or association partner, to ensure sustainability, linked to the key national and regional SME and green portals. A key part of the awareness raising, will be the use of the experience of working with the previously discussed companies, which will be evaluated and the information will be converted to materials for dissemination. The companies with the most successful business case / models will be used as champions promoting the value added of Green BDS. Regular workshops and discussions will be organised using the selected companies and their experience.